Heads Up: Ran (1985)

It's been far too long since I've written a Heads Up for you.  So here goes.  Akira Kurosawa's 1985 film "Ran."
If you think you ought to see "Ran," you probably already know you want to see it.  I'll just confirm: yes, you should see it.  Like most of Kurosawa's films this is an epic, and truly an epic, and an artistic masterpiece.  It was the biggest budget Japanese film ever to have been released when it came out.  It isn't hard to see why.  The film boasts incredible production design, thousands of extras, huge sweeping shots of grand locations and enormous armies.  There is a ton going on here.  It truly is a spectacle to behold.
The story is based on Shakespeare's "King Lear."  I had heard that before seeing the movie, but expected it to be based on Shakespeare the way "Forbidden Planet" is based on Shakespeare (that is to say, hardly at all).  This really is just the story of "King Lear" though, with a few minor adaptations made in order to make it fit in Feudal age Japan.  I love "King Lear," and I find Feudal age Japan terribly interesting, so this film is really a recipe for greatness, especially with the genius of Kurosawa behind the wheel.
Still I didn't find the film as engaging as other Kurosawa classics such as "Rashoman" and "Seven Samurai."  This was the first color film I've seen of his, and Kurosawa uses color to the fullest advantage in creating a vibrant, distinct and vast atmosphere for the story to reside in.  Visually the film is absolutely arresting.  It is full of beautifully composed shots, staged with stunning accuracy.  I remember in particular a shot of several mounted warriors standing in the foreground watching a mountain ridge miles away as two armies move into place on the horizon.  It's a stunningly framed shot, and I can't imagine what planning it took to time and frame up subjects who were many miles away from each other.  As a quick scan of the wikipedia article about the film will tell you, Kurosawa spent 10 years prior to filming painting every shot of the film for story boarding.  What an eccentric artistic genius thing to do, right?  Out of control.
This is truly an artistic achievement, and certainly a masterpiece.  I felt it suffered from some pacing issues that caused the story to drag at points when it did not need to.  This does keep it from being as great a film as it could have been.
In the end though we still have one of the grandest and most impressive films ever made.  It has great sets and locations, huge battle scenes, terrifying stunts (I'm thinking specifically of the numerous shots showing soldiers being shot off their horses while at full gallop with an army of other horses riding past them, someone had to have gotten hurt) and stunning production value.  Everything facet of the film is executed deliberately with artistic consideration; every costume, every frame, every actors blocking.  This is a calculated and beautiful piece of classic world cinema.  If that's what you dig, next time you have about 3 hours, this film is worthy of your time.  In fact a more valid question to ask yourself isn't if the film is worth your time, but if you are worth its....

In that case.  Excelsior.

From the Feed: Movie Miniatures.

I found this cool blog about movie miniatures.  I love miniatures.  I think they're super cool, I think they're a very cool convention of film making, especially now, when they are so underutilized.  Movies with good practical effects and miniatures always catch my eye.

This blog just has lots of cool pictures.  I liked it, thought I'd pass it on.

http://movieminiatures.blogspot.com/

News: Part 3 in the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy may really exist someday.

No longer than a week ago I was riding my bike home from having watched "Hot Fuzz" with some buddies and I was thinking to myself how there probably wouldn't be a conclusion to the so-called "Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy."  It has been quite some time since "Hot Fuzz" came out, and everyone involved has gone on in different directions to do other things of varying quality; from Edgar Wright's turn directing "Scott Pilgram" towards the positive end to most movies Simon Pegg has been in at the other end (here's looking at you "Run Fatboy Run").  This lead me to doubt that we would ever find out what film would feature Simon Pegg eating mint flavored (or flavoured, in this case) Cornetto's brand ice cream.

Well, I guess my doubts were at least partially unfounded.  Simon Pegg has posted a picture of the cover page of a script written by he and Wright titled "The World's End."  So, yeah.  I guess we have that to look forward to.  I'm pretty excited.  You should also be.

If you don't trust me, feel free to read about it at slashfilm here.

And as a reminder, if you haven't already seen "Attack the Block," I encourage you to do so.

The Tops: Music Videos - "This Ain't No Picnic"

Minutemen are one of my favorite bands.  There is really no one else like them.  Their blending of punk energy and diy aesthetic with funky rhythms and a whole slew of other styles make them one of the coolest bands of the early 80's.  Their masterpiece "Double Nickels on the Dime," released in 1984, is one of my favorite ever albums.
One of the many stand out tracks from the over 40 track album is the song "This ain't No Picnic," a great punk tune with an ample amount of funk and a driving drum line.  At about two minutes this is one of the longest tracks on the whole record.  The video begins with footage of Ronald Reagan flying an airplane from some public domain war film he was in, and then intersperses this with the band playing, and people working.  The band is filmed to match the other footage to make it seamless.  Sometimes with the worlds interact as the plane shoots at the Minutemen and D. Boon playing amidst the smoke and dust kicked up around him.  The video is fun and cool, and a perfect relic of its time and of this band.  That's why I chose it in my top 5 favorite music videos.  Hope you dig it.

The Tops: Music Videos - "Can't keep Johnny Down"

I've been pretty busy with the semester ending and all, so I haven't had time for movies, but I assume soon we will get a pretty steady stream of Heads Up's.  Till then, we have our weekly list of my favorite music videos to keep us going.

They Might Be Giants is a band I grew up with as my brother had their cassette.  "Triangle Man" and "Birdhouse in your Soul" have been a part of my life almost as long as I can remember, and the album "Flood" remains one of my very favorite albums ever, and not just because of nostalgia, but because it is a great album.  Now, They Might Be Giants have had a few weak albums here and there, but they have been one of the most consistently interesting and consistently fun bands since they have been around.  There is really no one else doing what they are doing.  Always evolving, and still always being distinctly them.  Last year they released the album "Join Us" which is a super solid album, and plays almost like a best of; showcasing a variety of styles they have explored throughout there 20-some-odd year career.
The lead of track from this album is the catchiest and most memorable, and quickly has become one of my favorite They Might Be Giants songs.  They made their own video for it, but I haven't even seen it yet.  They had a contest for users to submit their own videos for the song, and this video was the winner of the contest.  It is one of the best realized music videos I have ever seen.  Conceptually, it's not really doing anything all that new, but it just does it better than any video I have seen before.  It captures the tone and feeling of the song, and the band in general, perfectly.  As a warning, the video does feature a hairy topless man running.  Without further ado, please enjoy the winning video for "Can't Keep Johnny Down."





All of the dicks in this big town can't keep Johnny down. And may it be the same for you today, too.

"It gets better at BYU"

I'm very proud of BYU that this exists.  I have nothing else to say, but that I think this is beautiful.

The Tops: Music Videos - "Once in a Lifetime"

Let's invent a new segment here just to confuse everyone!  This is something I recently thought about, and I thought this might be a fun little exercise.  I was recently trying to decide my 5 favorite music video's.  I haven't thought of all of them yet.  I'll do one every Thursday for the next 5 weeks until I have my full list.  Maybe I'll write about them clumsily.  Maybe not.

First things first though.  Let's lay one on you.  I came up with the idea to make this list while watching the music video for "Once in a Lifetime" by the Talking Heads.  "Once in a Lifetime" is one of their best known songs, and was the big hit from their 1980 album "Remain in Light," which is one of my all time favorite albums.
This music video is just so delightfully kooky.  Only David Byrne could do this.  It's so weird and fun.  I can't imagine what it would have been like to watch this video back in 1980.  It has some interesting visual effects, that probably would have been pretty crazy at the time.  A lot of the time the music video can change your view of a song, or can distract you from the song (like the music video for "Blonde Fire," an awesome video for a mediocre song).  However this music video just feels like a perfect extension of the song itself.

If you haven't seen this music video, feel free to take the time to do so now.